Responses to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions under authoritarian rule: a comparison between fascist Italy and Portugal during the Estado Novo

Abstract This paper seeks to examine how two authoritarian regimes in Europe handled earthquake and eruption disasters, and the extent to which deep-seated continuities in vulnerability and resilience are revealed which continue to affect responses regardless of the regime in power. In the middle decades of the twentieth century Italy and Portugal were both under the control of authoritarian regimes: Mussolini’s Fascism in Italy (1922–1943) and the Estado Novo (i.e. New State) in Portugal (1932–